by Chris Chase, USA TODAY Sports

by Chris Chase, USA TODAY Sports

Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron has expanded his already-prodigious chest tattoo with new pictures, slogans, phrases and names. How does it look? Well, let's just say it made me momentarily wonder whether I should root for Notre Dame.

McCarron's new chest tattoo features a dangling cross, a reference to his MVP status from last year's BCS championship, the words "home team," a couple of doves (he must like Prince) and the phrase "God in control." There are also a bunch of stars and clouds to go along with the original text ("Bama Boy" and the names of family members) and the picture of a weeping Jesus.

If you like tattoos, you might think it's pretty awesome. If you're like me and think tattoos are youthful decisions that will eventually age as well as 80s music, then you'll chuckle and move on with your day, then realize that there's no way you can root for Notre Dame, ridiculous-looking tattoos or not.

And please don't think I'm saying that McCarron is less of a quarterback or a human being because he has tattoos. That's not it at all. What was lost in the whole Colin Kaepernick tattoo kerfuffle is that it's acceptable to not like tattoos, provided you don't make generalizations about the men and women who have them.

Of course having ink doesn't make you less intelligent or less of a quarterback. It's a personal style decision, like how you wear your hair or piercing your ears. Criticizing someone's character because they have tattoos is ignorant and speaks more to the character of the one criticizing. However, criticizing a man who basically has an Ed Hardy shirt tattooed on his chest because he basically has an Ed Hardy shirt tattooed on his chest? That's fair game.